Canada romps over Turkey in men’s volleybal

May 16, 2013, Gatineau, QUE (ISN) – Canada’s national men’s volleyball team appeared like a fine-tuned machine on Thursday night hammering Turkey 25-19, 25-18, 25-17 in the second of a three match tune-up series at the Centre sportif.

The Canadians, who also won Wednesday in five sets, are preparing for the FIVB World League tournament which gets underway May 31 in Quebec City against the Netherlands.

Gord Perrin of Creston, B.C., led the Canadian attack with 11 points while Dallas Soonias of Red Deer, Alta., and Steve Brinkman of Bowmanville, Ont., ( with four aces) added eight apiece. Those three players were making their season debut with Team Canada.

Perrin starred this past winter in the Turkish pro league for Izmir which also included Team Canada teammates Justin Duff of Winnipeg and Adam Simac of Ottawa and was coached by Canada’s national team coach Glenn Hoag. Izmir won the league title and also qualified for the Champions League.

”It felt good to play that first match with the guys again,” said Perrin. ”After eight months you get eager to get back together. We are not where we want be yet but happy with the way we played tonight. The biggest challenge now is fine-tuning our chemistry.”

Hoag says Perrin delivers the full package on court.

”Gord made giant strides in Europe this winter,” said Hoag. ”And he learned how to win which is very important as well. He improved all the facets of his game, how he reads plays, his service and defence. And he continued to improve in blocking, reception and attacking.”

As for Thursday’s match, Hoag continues to be impressed with his troops. After putting 12 players on the court Wednesday, 13 of the 15 dressed on Thursday saw some action.

”It was better than yesterday especially in service block reception,” he said. ”Our defence is still not to my liking though. But when we play well on offence we are hard to defend against.”

The series concludes Saturday at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., at 4 p.m.